


Clueless

by EldritchSandwich



Category: Scooby Doo - All Media Types, Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated (TV 2010)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluffy Sandwich, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Misunderstandings, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-09-03 18:19:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8725180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EldritchSandwich/pseuds/EldritchSandwich
Summary: Velma's still trying to come to terms with the new world left in Nibiru's wake. Especially when it comes to figuring out where she stands with this new version of her girlfriend.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion piece to my other story "What Was Your First Clue?", covering the same basic scenario but from the opposite direction. If you like this you'd probably like that one, but you don't need to read it for this to make sense.

Normally, Velma liked a good mystery.

That had been true even before she'd started hanging around with Fred, Daphne, and Shaggy; she was a scientist, after all, and what scientist didn't like having new things to learn and problems to solve? But then Fred's love of adventure and her quest for answers had mixed together with Daphne's ambitions and Shaggy's lust for life to form Mystery Inc, to the point where getting to the bottom of mysteries was pretty much her entire life now.

Well, not her entire life. There was one other thing that took up a significant portion of her time and attention and made everything a little more worthwhile. Or at least, there had been in the old world, before some unknowable ancient force had catapulted them into a parallel universe where everything was the same, but different.

Which, really, was the crux of the mystery she was facing now.

"V? Are you listening to me?"

Velma shook her head and looked up from the book in her lap to find Marcie lying across the bed, gazing curiously at her as they supposedly studied. Velma tried not to frown: speaking of things that were the same, but different. Marcie was so much the same, in fact, that it was driving Velma crazy, so crazy that she was almost ready to chuck the mystery and just jump.

Back in the old world, Velma and Marcie's relationship had been...complicated. _New best friends at odds with her old best friends_ complicated, at first, but then, well... _best friends who cuddle sometimes_ complicated. Then _best friends who might be interested in kissing another girl, just to see what it's like_ complicated. Then _best friends who like to make out sometimes, but that's okay because they're just friends and it doesn't count, right?_ complicated.

Then _best friends who might be falling in love but are both too scared to say anything_ complicated.

"I'm fine," Velma croaked before she remembered what the question was. Marcie smirked.

"So that would be a no, then."

"Sorry. I'm just...thinking."

Marcie pushed up off the bed, and Velma tried not to notice, or to pretend not to notice, or whatever, the way she pushed her chest out and shook out her hair as she did. "You've been thinking a lot lately. You ready to tell me about what?"

Velma pursed her lips. The problem with this new universe was that she didn't know how long 'lately' was from Marcie's perspective, whether she'd been distracted and standoffish before Velma and her friends unceremoniously unseated their counterparts from this world...hell, maybe the Velma from this world had been thinking about the exact same thing she was. Or maybe the Velma from this world didn't have to, because in this world there was nothing between her and Marcie besides friendship. Or maybe the Velma from this world didn't have to because they were in love and dating and everyone in town knew about it.

And that, of course, was the problem: she had no idea, and she had no idea how to ask.

She'd tried to talk around the issue with her mother without revealing too much, but that had just been an exercise in frustration. "You know, dear, at first I wasn't too sure about that Marcie girl, but I think you've been a good influence on each other. Fish for dinner?" Not exactly helpful. Unless the last part was a euphemism, which...no.

She'd been trying to collect data, of course, but everything was so different here and her relationship with Marcie in the other world had been so complicated she hardly even knew what to look for. Did this Marcie look at her legs a little too long, or was it her imagination? Did this Marcie mean the same thing as hers when she touched Velma's hair? When this Marcie leaned in to hug her, was she expecting a kiss?

They'd been in this new world for three days, and she still didn't know.

"Is this about your trip?"

Right, the road trip out to Miskatonic with the gang. Telling Marcie about that was another opportunity she'd tried to use to gather information, but Marcie's only response was to shake her head with a fond smirk and say "That's my girl. Guess I'll be there waiting for you."

So Marcie was going to Miskatonic too, which was good. Unless Velma managed to screw up their friendship before they left.

"Not exactly." Marcie tilted her head, and Velma sucked in a breath. For the love of God, just ask something. "Marcie?"

"Hm?" Marcie's attention had drifted back down to her book. Velma swallowed.

"How would you characterize our relationship?"

Marcie looked back up, blinking, and for a moment Velma could have sworn she saw a look of panic flash across her face. "We're...friends."

Velma tried not to frown. Well, that narrowed it down. Especially when Marcie didn't sound entirely sure of herself either. "I just...sometimes think we should talk about..."

The ringing of her cell phone was such a welcome distraction from whatever the hell was about to come out of her mouth that it almost didn't make her jump. She pulled it out and winced. "Hi, Daphne." Marcie was trying to look like she wasn't paying attention, which of course just made it more awkward.

"Hey. Is this a bad time?"

"I'm studying with Marcie."

"Oh. Right. Have you, um...talked to her yet?" The emphasis made Velma fight not to purse her lips. Daphne was the only one who'd known about what was going on between them in the old world, having had her suspicions even before she walked in on them making out once. Velma tried to look like she wasn't glancing at Marcie.

"I don't know."

"What to say?"

"Mm."

"Just ask her. You're going to have to eventually."

"Maybe. What did you need?"

"Never mind, just travel plans. We can talk later. You have important work to do!" That was all the warning Velma got before Daphne hung up and left here staring at a dead phone. When she put it down, Marcie was still pretending not to look at her.

"What did Daphne want?" Marcie's tone was hard to read. Was she suspicious? Was she jealous? Was Velma just reading her all wrong because when you got right down to it she didn't really know this Marcie at all?

"Uh..." Velma took a deep breath. Screw it. "She wanted to know if I'd we'd kissed yet."

That was actually pretty good. If there was something between them, it would be Marcie's cue to make a move. If there wasn't, she could laugh it off as a joke. Either way, it wasn't the kind of thing Marcie could not react to.

And she definitely reacted. Her entire body stiffened, her cheeks went red, and she practically upended the stack of books between them in her attempt to get off the bed and away from Velma.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Velma just blinked in shock. She'd been expecting a reaction, but not this one. "We're 'just friends,' I get it, you didn't have to tell all your friends so they can laugh at me too!"

Velma scrambled off the bed, trying to intercept Marcie on her way to the door. "Wait, Marcie, that's not what—"

"I have to go. I'm sure you and your real friends will have more fun without me."

Velma could only watch in shock as the bedroom door slammed behind Marcie. That was all she could do for a few seconds, stare motionless at the door as the implications of what Marcie had said dawned on her. Before she could stop herself, she was scrambling for her phone.

"Hello?"

"Daph, I need your help." Velma dragged a hand through her hair and sucked in a breath. "I think I just made a huge mistake."

* * *

"So...you think that in this world Marcie...tried, and you—or the other you, or whatever—rejected her."

"That's what the evidence seems to suggest," Velma muttered as she paced the length of Daphne's bedroom. Maybe it was something to do with all the running away from monsters they'd done over the past few years, but moving around helped her think. "Which means the question is, how do I fix this?"

Daphne shrugged simply. "It seems pretty simple to me. You know she likes you, so tell her you like her too, then make out."

That was enough to make Velma smile; one of the things she loved about Daphne was that whenever she and Fred got bogged down in details, the redhead was there to cut in with a more straightforward solution. This time, though, it didn't seem that simple.

"Except she already knows that I don't. How do I explain that?"

Daphne shrugged. "Say you had a change of heart. Or...tell her the truth, if you have to."

"Marcie's open-minded, but she's not going to believe we're from an alternate dimension just because I say so. Especially right now..."

"Well you have to say something!" Daphne snapped. Velma turned, eyes wide in surprise as Daphne's cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry, I just..."

Velma stopped her pacing and settled on the corner of Daphne's bed. "Daph...why is this so important to you?"

Daphne's lips pursed. "I...you're going to think it's romantic and stupid." Velma winced. In fairness, she did remember a few digs at Fred and Daphne's relationship that might have painted her as something less than a romantic.

"Look, Daph, just tell me."

Daphne sighed. "In...in the old world, at the end, when Marcie stayed behind, when she..." Velma winced as the memory drifted up to the surface. The sound of gunfire, then silence. The knowledge that Marcie was gone, and she was never getting her back. "I saw your face. Then we came here, and this world...we all got what we wanted. We all got a happy ending. I was just...I was so sure she was yours."

Velma swallowed, hard. "So was I."

"Please, just go talk to her. Say...anything. You don't give up, Velma. Remember after Freddie found out about his parents? Even when the rest of us gave up, you never did. So don't start now."

Velma smiled. "Thanks, Daph."

Daphne smirked. "Just go get the girl."

* * *

Velma knocked on the door to the Fleach residence, three times in rapid succession, her foot jiggling nervously as she waited; again, the tension was making her want to move. She was just about ready to start pacing when the door opened.

"Oh, Velma! Hi there. What can I do for you?"

Marcie's dad. Velma didn't really know him well enough to know how he'd changed in this world, other than that the amusement park he owned was now called Crystal Cove Funland and seemed to actually be pretty profitable. He was happy, just like everyone else in this world seemed to be.

Well, with one notable and hopefully temporary exception.

"Hi Mr. Fleach. Is...Marcie here?"

Marcie's father gave her something of a strange look. "No, she's at the library. I thought you two were together."

Velma winced. "We are. Or, we will be. We just...lost track of each other."

Mr. Fleach nodded. "Well, have fun. Oh, hey, as long as you two are hanging out, why don't you come over for dinner?"

Velma tried to smile encouragingly. "We'll see. Thanks, Mr. Fleach."

In addition to being far less sinister in this reality, the library wasn't far. Well, nothing in Crystal Cove was really 'far' from anything else, but the library in particular was close to Marcie's house, too close for Velma to have any time to think of what she was going to say. By the time she got up the stairs, through the doors, and to the reference desk, she'd decided she was just going to improvise.

As if that hadn't been what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

A quick word with Mrs. Butler revealed that Marcie was in Periodicals, of all places. Velma climbed the stairs, still rehearsing and imagining worse and worse scenarios in her head with every step. When she reached the fourth floor and stepped through the arch, she froze. There she was.

Marcie had her face buried in a biology book, hunched over and dead to the world, shoulders tense and hair streaming out behind her. Velma loved her hair; it had always been so oily, but one of those subtle, gradual shifts in their relationship had been when she'd changed shampoos, coincidentally around the time they started holding each other more, Velma burying her face in those thick curls...she shook her head.

Marcie's snapped up.

Velma froze. She must have caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, and now neither one of them was moving. As the silence dragged on Velma squared her shoulders, then cleared her throat.

"Hi, Marcie."

"Hi, Velma."

Velma frowned. She was so used to 'V' that hearing Marcie call her that sounded...well, probably exactly how Marcie wanted it to sound. "Can we talk?"

Marcie looked down at her book, then back up at Velma. "No offense, but...I'm not really in a talking kind of mood."

"Well then can I talk?" She was already moving before Marcie could answer, causing Marcie to jump and practically slam her book down as Velma sat down across from her. In the process, the magazine that had been hidden inside it cartoon-style slipped partway out. Velma recognized the title of a men's magazine she was surprised the library carried and tried not to let her blush give away that she'd seen. Instead she folded her hands in front of her and cleared her throat, eyes fixed on the table between them.

"I've been thinking about you a lot," she offered. Marcie said nothing. "About...everything we've been through. Everything we've done together. I didn't want to just...dump things on you, because I didn't...I wasn't sure where we stood. But now I guess I know. And I...I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like..."

The creaking of Marcie's chair made Velma look up to find Marcie's eyes guardedly meeting hers. "It's not your fault that we want different things, V."

Velma took a deep breath. "And what about if we don't?"

Marcie's lips parted, thick and red and very, very distracting. "What?"

"I've been thinking about you a lot," Velma murmured. "About...losing you. And it made me realize what I really want." Velma exhaled. "I want...to be who I am when I'm with you."

Marcie swallowed, the action drawing Velma's eyes momentarily down her slender throat. "V, what are you saying?"

Velma forced herself to breathe, forced herself to push her hand across the table. "I'm saying that...I want to be with you. However I can."

Marcie blinked, lashes fluttering as she leaned forward, her fingers tentatively brushing the back of Velma's hand. Before she was halfway across the table, Velma leaned in to meet her.

The kiss was so different than she was used to, shaking and tentative and terrified and not just on Marcie's end. But God, Marcie's mouth tasted just the same. As Marcie's fingers intertwined with hers, Velma's other hand rose to her cheek, then up into her hair, urging her closer. Marcie let out a contented sigh into Velma's mouth, and that was all Velma needed to know.

When the kiss ended, Velma's hands stayed where they were even as Marcie shyly pulled back to look into her eyes. Velma met the look with one of utter solemnity. "I should be honest," she said, and Marcie frowned. "Your father invited me to come over for dinner tonight."

Marcie blinked, smiled, laughed. She was still smiling and laughing as she pushed in for another kiss. And if Velma had her way, she was never going to stop.

Daphne had been right, as always. If after all the danger and intrigue and struggle and death the universe was finally doing something nice for them, if this reality actually was their happy ending...

Marcie was definitely hers.


End file.
